Vol. XVI, No.

2 Fall 1994

Brandeis University dedicates

the Frederica Martin ArchivesA dedication ceremony, marking the completion of the cata-loging of the Frederica Martin medical services of the SCW, they are a unique source of information on the sadly underwritten history of the ans for Special Collections, Victor Berch and Charles Cutter, and, of course, Professor TobyanneMedical Papers was held at women who served in support of the Berenberg who had traveled fromBrandeis University Library on International Brigades. Mexico for the ceremony.August 12. The event featured the The dedication, with over 80 Moe read out the names of thepresentation of a plaque to the people on hand, was presided over donors honored on the plaque:University, honoring the principle by Dr. Bessie K. Hahn, director of Tobyanne Berenberg, David Engel-donors who enabled the Abraham the Brandeis Libraries. She spoke son, Louis Gayle, Ben Goldring,Lincoln Brigade Archives (ALBA) to of the worldwide importance of the Nat Gross, Jacques Grunblatt,add the Martin Papers to the collection contained in the Archives, Toby Jensky, Charles Keith, SteveUniversity's Special Collection on regarded worldwide as an outstand- Nelson, Irving Portnow, Williamthe Spanish Civil War. ing one in its field. A matching trib- Sennett, Jack Teiger, Bill Van “Freddie’s” collection represented ute was paid by Encarnación Felix, Saul Wellman and Stevealmost a half-century of labor in Campuzano, assistant to the Zak. Also inscribed are the Edwardpreparation for a book on the medical Spanish Consulate in Boston. Aberlin Family, the Charles Keithservices of the International Brigades. Speaking for the VALB was Moe Foundation, the San Francisco BayShe was well qualified, having been Fishman, who expressed apprecia- Area Post of the ALB; and friendsDr. Ed Barsky’s head nurse and chief tion to Brandeis for its interest, John D.B. Lewis and John Sayles.administrator of all the American investment of personnel and Lincoln vets in attendance werenurses in Spain. Working from a resources to build the ALBA project. Al Amery, Bill Van Felix, Harryhome in Mexico, she had accumulated He singled out for special tribute Dr. Fisher, John Hovan, Sam Waltersa mass of material when her death cut Hahn, the past and present librari- and Thelma Erikson Abbott. ✇the project short in1991. There were halfa hundred cartons ofrecords, first-handdata, memorabiliaand photographs thatwere shipped toALBA that year byher daughter, Prof-essor Tobyanne Ber-enberg (University ofMexico). They origi-nated from sourcesacross the globe. The FredericaMartin papers are not Above: (l-r) Thelma Erikson Abbott, Moe Fishman, Bill Van Felix,only a mine of unsur- Encarnación Campuzano and Harry Fisher.passed data on the Right: Dr. Bessie K. Hahn, director of the Brandeis Libraries.2 THE VOLUNTEER, FALL 1994

Volunteer ViewsWhither the fight for national health care?A s we prepare this Volunteer for the press, the prospect is bad for the passage of any worth-while health care legislation. but one has heard only muffled and crushed refer- ences to it in the U.S. Congress. The Clintons must be given credit for nullifying this obscene evasion. Responsibility for the present setback falls on the The criminals here are the usual suspects: thosecongressional combination of reactionary Repub- sections of the insurance industry which refuse tolicans and “conservative” Democrats. They are out to consent to any modification of their charges and pro-kill or, at least, maim, any beneficial measures. And, cedures, the pharmaceutical companies and doctorsof course, it must not be forgotten or forgiven, that more devoted to mammon than Hippocrates.these same legislators deny the rest of the population There is an important ideological component ofthe health care that they themselves enjoy, paid for this fight. It is necessary to counteract and defeatby all the people. the promoted notion that the government cannot do Despite all the flaws contained in the Clintons’ anything right. It is with this kind of barrage thatoriginal proposals, and the tactical errors committed Nixon and Reagan, Bush, Dole and Gingrich havein the original planning stages, they have projected covered up the ways in which they have handed overthe image of health care with a sharpness that has resources and treasures to the most powerful, andnever before existed in American political discourse. thereby worsened the plight of the powerless.In the past hundred years, healthcare legislation has What lies ahead? Protracted fight. The constant-been enacted in one industrial country after another, ly increasing need is too great for the fight to be abandoned. Single payer insurance remains the best option. The fight for this kind of coverage may haveSupport people’s right to shift from the national arena – to be waged on a state-by-state basis. The ever present puppets into travel to Cuba Congress have already proposed making these state initiatives illegal. This only proves how determined

I t has been reported that Castro has called for a

meeting with Clinton to resolve outstanding differ-ences between the U.S. and Cuba. If Rabin could their proponents must be. All of us must join in this fight. ✇meet with Arafat, Nixon with Deng Xiaoping, thatrequest certainly ought to fall within the range ofpossibility. The Volunteer Meanwhile, the tightening of the U.S. embargo Journal of thenoose around Cuba is impelling thousands of Cubans Veterans of theto attempt migration under conditions hazardous tolife. There is a new urgency for continued support of Abraham Lincoln Brigadethe third Freedom to Travel Challenge by the San 799 Broadway, Rm 227Francisco-based Global Exchange, planned for Oct. 1 New York, NY 10003through 9, and of the fourth Pastors for Peace (212) 674-5552Friendship Caravan scheduled for Nov. 2 throughNov. 27. The latter will include a parallel Canadian EditorCaravan which will travel west to east, joining the Leonard LevensonU.S. contingent in Washington, DC. The mergedCaravan will then proceed north into Canada where Editorial Boardthe accumulated humanitarian-aid supplies will be Abe Smorodin • Bill Susman • Irving Weissmanshipped to Cuba. Contributing Editor Seymour Joseph Further information on these activities may beobtained by calling: Submission of Manuscripts • Global Exchange at (415) 558-9490, or FAX at Please send manuscripts typewritten and double-spaced, if possible.(415) 2557498; If you wish your manuscripts returned, enclose a self-addressed, stamped envelope. • Pastors for Peace at (612) 378-0062. ✇ THE VOLUNTEER, FALL 1994 3

News From Spain

Plans moving forward to honor reporting that the University of Castilla-La Mancha, last AprilJarama Vets and La Pasionaria established in Albacete an interna- tional center for archives and study of the International Brigades. TheA t VALB’s request, associate his- torian Frances Patai met withthe Asociación Brigadas Inter- clear: to demonstrate that La Pasionaria was of prime importance both to the final victory over the undertaking, the first of its kind in Spain, appropriately situated in thenacionales (ABI) and the Fundación IB wartime headquarters city, is a Franco dictatorship and the restora-Dolores Ibárruri (FDI), last June in joint venture of the municipality tion of Spanish democracy. The cen-Barcelona, for an update of their and the university. tennial will focus on her life notrespective plans for the 1994 cere- Under an agreement signed by only as a shaper of Spanish history,mony to dedicate the lapida (monu- the rector of the university, Luis but as a symbol of the internationalment) in the Morata de Tajuna Arroya, and the mayor of Albacete, struggle for progress and a moreCemetery, honoring the Lincolns Carmina Belmonte, the archives, just world society.killed at Jarama; and for the 1995 including a collection of pertinent The FDI envisages the celebra-commemoration of La Pasionaria’s books, will be housed in the General tion as an ideal opportunity notbirthday centennial. Library building of the university only for a critical analysis of 20th Santiago Alvarez of the ABI, under the directorship of Manuel Century Spain, but for reflectionsafter expressing his thanks for the Requena, professor of contemporary on the future.VALB’s $200 contribution to ABI, history. Frances was in Spain at the invi-indicated that final plans and a The Albacete municipal govern- tation of the 2nd Internationaldate for the ceremony were not yet ment will annually allocate funds to Congress of the Association ofset and that VALB would be the Center for the acquisition of Contemporary Historians sponsoredinformed as soon as the calendar of documents and books, especially by the University of Barcelona. ✇events is made definite. [No news as from Italy, Germany, the Unitedof the time this Volunteer goes to States and Spain, as well as for itspress – Ed.] An IB archive own research projects. ✇

La Pasionaria’s centennial The detailed calendar of events in Albacete Lincoln vet John Rossen has More news from Spainhas not been crystallized but thephilosophical and ideological frame- sent The Volunteer a clipping from on pages 8-9work for the year-long celebration is an unnamed Spanish newspaper,

Bill Mandel (left), radio personality, and his 100-year-old father, Max, at the west coast VALB dinner. For more on the dinners — eastand west — see page 11.4 THE VOLUNTEER, FALL 1994

Book ReviewsA classic teristic of Carroll’s book. He has used the word odyssey in its classi- Part three he calls Veterans, which runs for approximately 150 pages.odyssey of the cal Homeric sense. The battles of the Trojan War were told in The Iliad. Finally there is an epilogue entitled Old Radicals, New Causes.Lincoln Brigade The aftermath of the victorious Hellenic warriors was the subject of Before I comment on the con- tent of any one of these sections, I The Odyssey. In this tradition, the would like to make a few profession-THE ODYSSEY OF THE heart of Carroll’s work – though it al observations about the craft ofABRAHAM LINCOLN BRIGADE: includes the complete trajectory of the historian. Firstly, archivesAmericans in the Spanish Civil War the Lincoln volunteers’ lives – his themselves are mute. In the studyBy Peter N. Carroll focus, his passion, is concerned with of human affairs as well as in theStanford University Press, Stanford,California: 1994. what happened to the survivors of study of nature, what counts as a$55 cloth; $16.95 paper; pp, xii, 429 the Spanish blood bath until the end relevant fact is largely determined of their days. The Lincoln Brigade by the pre-existing theories in the volunteers found that the aftermathW ith the publication of Pro- mind of the investigator. fessor Carroll’s massive vol- was longer and more taxing, moreume, the Lincoln Brigade volun-teers, living and dead, have found deadly than the “duration.” These intentions of the author manifest themselves in the organiza- P eter Carroll views the history of the veterans as embedded and controlled by the ideological con-their Thucydides; and the authortells us, in his preface, that he is tion of the book. After a short pro- flicts which predated the outbreakwhat he calls a member of the third logue setting the historical stage, of the Spanish conflict. Of necessitygeneration of writers about the and hinting at the controversial this makes it impossible to disen-Lincoln Brigade. The first genera- nature of all writings about the civil tangle the history of the Abrahamtion was composed of participants: war, there follow four parts. Part one Lincoln Brigade from the history ofEdwin Rolfe’s The Lincoln he entitles Causes. By this he means the Communist Party of the UnitedBattalion, and Alvah Bessie’s Men the unique set of historical American States. There can be no questionin Battle. Both of these were pub- circumstances during the Great concerning the fact that thelished in 1939. There followed Depression which created the radical International Brigades were createdArthur Landis’ The Abraham tradition within which a generation by the Comintern and it cannot beLincoln Brigade, published in 1968, of young Americans learned the denied that 60 percent of theand Landis’ Death in the Olive meaning of fascism and witnessed American contingent were membersGroves, posthumously published in the apparent collapse of the capital- of the Communist Party or its1989. The second generation, he ist system on a world-wide scale. Young Communist League. Thesays, were academic scholars, such other 40 percent can be bestas Cecil Eby, Robert Rosenstone,John Gerassi. (I would add the gen- I n the struggles of this period, to organize the unemployed and to build trade unions, emerged the described as individuals who, out of their own experience of union bust- ing, anti-semitism, book burning,eration of journalists who wroteabout the Lincoln Brigade: Herbert future officers of the Abraham racial injustice, plus knowledge ofMatthews and Vincent Sheehan.) Lincoln Brigade. the dynamics of fascism, and One should note, concerning the Part two, entitled Spain, num- inspired by the resistance of thethird generation, that they have at bers only about 100 pages. Here he Spanish people, accepted the leader-their disposal not only the great sketches the military triumphs and ship role of the American Com-accumulation of archival material disasters from the Jarama Valley to munist Party and went to fight andat Brandeis University, but also the last stand in the Sierra Pandols. die in Spain. Peter Carroll takes nonow, for the first time, the archives sides when chronicling the bitterof the International Brigades which and often puerile disputes thatPeter Carroll explored in Moscow. The books reviewed here weakened the endeavors to halt the Of course our readers are well may be ordered directly fascist juggernaut.aware of the shifting climate of As for the internal history of the through the VALB office, 799opinion within which most scholars Brigade veterans, Peter Carroll is Broadway Rm. 227, New not interested in hagiography. Theare constrained. Peter Carroll is thefirst scholar who approaches the York, NY 10003, at list price Lincoln Brigade volunteers cametangled web of Lincoln Brigade his- plus $2.00 each for shipping from both sides of the tracks. Theytory in the post Cold-War period. and handling. There is another unique charac- Continued on page 6 THE VOLUNTEER, FALL 1994 5

‘The best book so far’ about the ALB

more than half a century – his Wolff proved himself a literaryANOTHER HILL: An autobiograph- reaction, for example, to being artist by his insight into theical novel of the Spanish Civil War appointed acting commander of his thoughts and emotions of a manBy Milton Wolff battalion: who was twice a deserter from thewith an introduction by Cary Nelson Lincolns but so attached to the This training was tough, but sup -University of Illinois Press, 1994, cause that he rejected an opportuni-Champaign, IL. pp XX, 395 pose he had to take the battalion into ty to leave the country, and$27.50, cloth action? Oh, Mother! returned once more to the front. Mother? To his mother he would There, in the final confrontation report that he had been made foremanW hy an autobiographical novel? Why not straight fiction withinvented characters taking part in in the factory. It is probable that Milt Wolff, between the two men, the author, who clearly believes in Leo Rogovin’s change of heart, alsothe historic conflict whose outcome like Mitch Castle, told his mother, believes in Mitch Castle’s convictionmade the larger one of 1939-1945 at least during the earlier, more that such a change is as unreliableinevitable? Or why not another non- obscure part of his time in Spain, as the man himself.fictional account of the American that he was working in a factoryvolunteers in Spain by their last behind the lines, but it is quitecommander? The answer is that in neither unlikely that he thought, at this particular moment, of disguising his I t is quite appropriate to this unique and fascinating book that its cast includes both real charactersformat could Milton Wolff have promotion for her benefit. Or if he and fictional ones. If it suits his pur-painted the picture he provides us did, that he would recall it today. pose to portray someone as he reallyin this remarkable, this amazing was and confine his actions andbook. The autobiographical struc-ture of the main body of A n o t h e rH i l l enables him to tell his own T reating the material as a novel- ist also makes it possible for him to tell the subordinate story of words to an approximation of what he actually did and said, the author calls him by his real name. If, for astory as the story of Mitch Castle, another volunteer whose reaction to fictional purpose, he has him performthe character based on himself, but the reality of warfare was in stark a fictional function, the name, too, isreworking it in fictional form frees contrast to that of Wolff/Castle. As fictional. Among those in the formerhim to render what he saw and did much as by the quality of his writ- category are Ernest Hemingway,and felt in the kind of graphic ing, which is surprisingly high for a Martha Gellhorn, Jo Davidson,detail that no one could recall after first novelist in his late seventies, Vincent Sheehan, Herbert Matthews of the New York Times, Joseph

Hemingway and the VALB North of the New Masses and James Lardner, this reviewer’s brother. Milton Wolff proved himself in battle of Jarama in 1937 and ended Spain and ever since to be an extra-REMEMBERING SPAIN:Hemingway’s Civil War Eulogy and with his death in 1961. ordinary man. His talent for leader-the Veterans of the Abraham ship put him in a position to know The RecordingLincoln Brigade more about what was going on in The tape reproduces a record the International Brigades than anyEdited by Cary Nelson, with essays byMilton Wolff and Cary Nelson; with a Hemingway sent from Cuba, at Milt other American volunteer. Hecassette recording of Hemingway read- Wolff’s request, for VALB’s tenth writes now with a perspective anding his essay “On the American Dead in anniversary dinner in 1947. It is a an objectivity that would have beenSpain.” Urbana and Chicago: University reading of his requiem, On theof Illinois Press, 1994. $14.50; paper and impossible during the hot and coldcassette; 39 pp. American Dead in Spain. He had wars that followed the defeat of the written it in 1939 for the special Spanish Republic. And he turns out “Lincoln Brigade Number” of NewT his publication is an unusual audio/hard-copy combinationthat critically ranges the quarter- M a s s e s , published on February 12th, Jarama’s 2nd anniversary. to be a talented novelist. For all these reasons, “Another Hill” is the best book so far about the Americancentury relationship between Ernest One hears Hemingway’s flat mid- participation in Spain. And it mightHemingway and the Veterans of the west voice softened by the solemnity very well remain in permanent pos-Abraham Lincoln Brigade. It was a session of that title. ✇turbulent one that began with the Continued on page 7 Ring Lardner, Jr.6 THE VOLUNTEER, FALL 1994

Book ReviewsOdyssey to internal security, turned the full force of its police powers against extensive account of the Brigade’s medical services. Recruited in theContinued from page 4 radicals, old and new. The Truman United States were doctors, nurses, loyalty oath, the Smith Act, the ambulances, and ambulance driverswere not all Sir Galahads or McCarran Internal Security Act, who served the Brigades. UnderParsifals. If I may make a personal the Taft-Hartley Law, the establish- appalling conditions of poverty ofremark here, I stated in one of my ment of inquisitorial committees of means and exposed constantly topapers that the Lincoln Brigade sol- the House of Representatives and extraordinary danger, the medicaldiers proved how uncommon the the U.S. Senate, the incredible staffs set an example of professionalcommon man could be. In their establishment of the Subversive excellence and political dedication.ranks there were bound to be Activities Control Board – all of this What is sad to relate now is thatdeserters, turncoats, renegades. As created a political maelstrom into Carroll gives in broad strokes the per-distinguished from the first genera- which the Veterans of the Abraham secution of these noble human beings.tion of scholars, Peter Carroll’s Lincoln Brigade were drawn, collec- The famous Dr. Edward Barsky, whoaccount takes the lives of this cate- tively as an organization and indi- saved hundreds of lives, will go to jailgory of men and lets them speak vidually. Peter Carroll’s account of for refusing to give the name oftheir piece for the record. this is a magnificent example of dif- donors to the funds raised for the There is a simple answer for ficult historiography expounded refugee hospitals. For years the nurs-those who believe that the inclusion with sympathy towards the victims, es will be hounded out of employmentof such testimony besmirches the but accurate always in detailing the and some will leave the country forreputation of the Brigade. The cow- charges brought against them. Mexico in order to practice their pro-ard’s flight determines the stature Forty years of harassment, howev- fession. I would note here a section ofof the hero. The turncoat gives evi- er, failed to destroy either the orga- the book which perhaps more thandence as to the steadfastness of nization or silence its members. any other indicates Carroll’s grasp ofthose who, against tremendous As to be expected, the veterans the big picture. This concerns hisodds, remained faithful to their never took their eyes off Spain. account of how in their old age, withpolitical and philosophic ideals. They wept for their country when very meager resources, the VeteransAgain, a personal note. As I read Franco, to them the butcher, of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade werethe account of the deserters and the became the favorite dictator of able to raise funds to send a dozen orgovernment-paid stool pigeons, I Eisenhower and Nixon. They also so ambulances to Nicaragua and Elkept remembering Carroll’s refer- took their protest to the streets. For Salvador. Having been transported inences to veterans of the Abraham years they used their meager ambulances more than once in Spain,Lincoln Brigade who, having been resources to send medical supplies they understood the value of theserepatriated because of wounds, to the Spanish refugees in France vehicles for their embattled brethrenreturned for the second time to the and Mexico. Eventually the harass- in Central America.Spanish front, and after the cause ment and the FBI and the Internal In my personal judgment, noth-was lost there, volunteered again Revenue Service ended those activi- ing that Peter Carroll has writtenfor the U.S. army and participated ties. As was to be expected from deserves our thanks more thanin some of its most bloody struggles their past record, the veterans were those lyrical passages telling thein World War II. loud in their opposition to the impe- story of the return to Spain of many As suggested above, the core of rial intervention of the United veterans on the occasion of the 50thCarroll’s book concerns the fate of States in south Asia and Latin anniversary of the Spanish conflict.the veterans after the end of World America. In the Death Squads, Again a personal note. I think itWar II in which many of them par- which emerged in this region, often was on the 40th anniversary of theticipated. It is hard to know how best under U.S. tutelage, they saw the Spanish war that the Cityto characterize this period. Some of projection of the punitive squads of University of New York placed athe subheads in the book indicate the Falange which purged Spain, plaque in the great hall of thethe content: The War of Words, province by province, for General University bearing the 13 names ofPremature Antifascists, The Political Franco. Carroll gives a cool account the faculty and students of that uni-War, Red Scares and Blacklists, The of these anti-imperialist activities. versity who died in Spain. On thatTrials, The Politics of Culture, (He might have noted that such occasion I was invited to speak forAlienated Artists, Bridging Old Left protests go back to Abraham the Brigade and I ended myand New, The Death Watch. Lincoln and Mark Twain.) remarks by thanking the president Stated briefly, the American I might note in passing that in of the university who was acting asestablishment, fearful of the threat Part 2 Peter Carroll gives the first master of ceremonies. I told her, THE VOLUNTEER, FALL 1994 7

Hemingway ever, was his lengthy, totally fic-

tional description of a savage mas- in 1987. The work had begun several years earlier under the editorship ofContinued from page 5 sacre of local fascists in a village Alvah Bessie and was completed loyal to the Republic.3 after his death by Al Prago. Theof the occasion and perhaps deep- The book triggered the VALB book’s preface pays tribute toened by its ending an eight-year estrangement from Hemingway. It Hemingway: “…perhaps more thanestrangement from all but a few persisted on individual and organi- any other American writer, he madeLincoln vets. That rupture, zational levels, with varying inten- invaluable contributions to the causedescribed in detail by Milt Wolff, sity, until his death in 1961. On of Republican Spain.”9 But the vol-had begun in 1940 following the Hemingway’s side, testifying to his ume omitted any reference to thepublication of Hemingway’s Spanish regard for the American IBers, it tumultuous history of the eulogy.Civil War novel For Whom the Bell was confined to his personal corre- For the Lincoln vets, time andT o l l s ( F W B T ) 1. The reconciliation spondence. Some of his letters, how- cataclysmic events have eased theirwas verified by a brief introduction ever, were eerily off-the-wall.4 resentment at the unbalanced por-which Hemingway had written for At Wolff’s initiative the breach trayal of Republican Spain in FWBT.this celebration.2 The first words one caused by FWBT was temporarily But history has no clear absolutionhears are, “I am very glad to be pre- bridged in 1947 with the phoned for Hemingway. The small, forgottensent in this distinguished company invitation to EH in Havana that edition of Heart of Spain ( 5 , 0 0 0of premature antifascists.” prompted the recording. On the copies, 42 years out-of-print) has Lincoln vets’ side, their turn-off been exceeded exponentionally byThe Essays again peaked five years later in FWBT which bookstores still stock to In the separate essays of 1952, when VALB excluded meet an unending demand.10Remembering Spain (RS), both Milt Hemingway from its book, T h e It doesn’t hurt to show a littleWolff and Cary Nelson describe the Heart of Spain5 (HoS). It was a col- Heart to keep the record straight onanger that FWBT churned in the lection of writings on the Spanish Republican Spain, even whileranks of the Lincoln vets. Into its Civil War. Veteran Alvah Bessie, acknowledging Ernest Hemingwaynearly 500-page bulk, Hemingway one of the “Hollywood Ten” jailed as its most influential wartime sup-had slipped a few off-the-cuff char- for contempt of the House Un- porter in the English-speaking world.acterizations that disparaged American Committee in 1947, was Lincoln vets and supporters,prominent antifascist leaders, the editor. His preface, after touched or untouched by this histo-including the legendary La describing the book as a “partisan ry-within-a-history, will want toPasionaria. Most infuriating, how- anthology,” focused on FWBT: have it for their book and tape libraries and as an unusual gift for We would particularly like to all occasions. ✇Odyssey (cont’d) explain to the reader our reasons for the omission of work by Ernest Len Levenson Hemingway. It was felt that Notes“You have restored a page torn from Hemingway’s talent and the personal 1. For Whom the Bell Tolls (FWBT): New York,the history of the United States. support he rendered to many phases 1940, First Scribner Classic/Collier Edition,Future generations of your students 1987. of the loyalist cause were shockingly 2. Remembering Spain(RS), p. 26.will be in your debt.” portrayed in his work For Whom the 3. FWBT, pp. .96-130. “I invented completely…,” Peter Carroll has restored not Bell Tolls … the novel in its impact Hemingway’s letter to Bernard Berenson injust a page but I would say an presented an unforgivable distortion Ernest Hemingway, Selected Letters (SL). 1917-entire chapter of the history of the of the meaning of the struggle in 1961: New York, 1981, p. 837. 6 Spain. 4. See, RS, p. 34, for a manic letter dealing withrepublic, and the Veterans of the Fred Keller; also S L, p. 505 – a savage put-Abraham Lincoln Brigade will be Despite this censuring, one year down of British and French IBers.remembered by this contribution to 5. New York: 1952, Veterans of the A b r a h a m later a Hemingway letter to Edthe vast literary account of that Lincoln Brigade. Rolfe7 reaffirmed his esteem for theglory and tragedy that was the his- 6. HoS, p. VI. VALB. It once again granted a 7. RS, p. 33.tory of Spain between the two great request to play the Havana record- 8. VALBand Monthly Review Press, 1987.wars. ✇ Robert G. Colodny ing, this time at a Vets’ meeting in 9. RS, p. 12.

Profesor Emeritus, Los Angeles. 10. FWBT “…was the November 1940 main selection of the Book-of-the-Month Club, … by the follow- University of Pittsburgh The requiem, reversing Heart of ing April, 491,000 copies had been sold.” James Veteran of the Spain, was included in Our Fight,8 R. Mellow, Hemingway, a life without conse - Abraham Lincoln Brigade another VALB anthology, published quences,Boston, 1992, p. 522.8 THE VOLUNTEER, FALL 1994

News From Spain

Socialists are to national wealth and population, according to estimates for 1993 employment is the area of least sat- isfaction since only 43 percentset back made public by the Alliance. According to these figures, Spain is express satisfaction with their work. Moreover, while in 1988, 26 The ruling Socialist Workers the allied country that devotes the percent were financially indepen-Party (PSOE) of Prime Minister smallest proportion of its Gross dent, in 1992 only 20.1 percentFelipe Gonzalez was roundly defeat- National Product (GNP) to defense: claimed to live solely on their owned by the center-right Popular 1.5 percent, as opposed to the 2.6 income. This latter group consistedParty (PP) in voting for the new percent average in the Alliance. The mainly of people aged between 26European Parliament on June 13. only exception is Luxembourg and 30. A regional Andalusian parlia- which has a professional army num-mentary election, held simultane- bering about 1,000. Spain is one of Family and Healthously, also stripped the PSOE of its the allied countries which spends Most Valuedabsolute majority. least money per capita on defense – Gonzalez himself recognized $81, only exceeding Portugal (80) Spain’s 10 million youth (15-29that the dismal showing, which and Turkey (64). years old) account for 24.75 percentexceeded the worst pre-election fore- The estimates also suggest that, of the population. Ten years ago itcasts, was the fruit of a series of cor- whereas the Spanish GNP will fall was 23 percent and in the nextruption scandals and continuing eco- by .8 percent, military expenditures decade the figure will drop to 19nomic woes that had undermined will drop by 5.4 percent, which percent. In 1992, 75 percent of thehis own and his government’s makes four consecutive years (1990- young people lived in their familyimage. 93) of cutbacks in the national mili- home with parents and siblings. The PP’s victory in the EP elec- tary budget. The National Budget This situation was highly valued bytion was its first over the PSOE at for 1994, however, shows a slight the vast majority: 92 percent statedthe national level in 12 years. The increase over last year. As for man- without reservation that their fami-conservatives won in 13 of Spain's power, Spain is tending towards a ly and health are the two mostautonomous regions, losing to the progressive reduction, and its important things in their lives andPSOE only in Andalusia and neigh- armed forces account for 1.6 percent what they are most satisfied with.boring Extremadura, and to nation- of the economically active popula- After these come housing (80 per-alist parties in Catalonia and the tion, far lower than the approxi- cent), sexual relations (59 percent),Basque country. mate Allied average of 2 percent. ✇ and studies (55 percent), whereas In both the European and España ’94, No. 239 their financial situation, oftenAndalusian polls the Communist- because of lack of work, only satis-led United Left (IU) coalition madesolid gains at the expense of the Spain’s youth fied 54 percent.PSOE and insured itself an indis- The following is excerpted from apensable power broker’s role in study, The Report on Young People in Social OutlookAndalusia. Spain 1992 , dealing with Spaniards Despite the dismal showing, between 15 and 30 years old (a total of With a level of interest in politics 10 million). even lower than the population as aGonzalez declared “We have to goon governing.” But he reiterated his whole, Spanish young people areearlier refusal to consider calling an Youth and Work passive in their voting intentionsearly general election if the Euro- and only show a certain amount of The unemployment rate amongpean polls did not go his way. El interest in environmentalism. young Spanish people, 32.1 percent,Pais editorialized, “…the scale of is the highest in the countries of the Membership in youth associa-the censure expressed by the elec- European Community, ahead of tions persists at a low level, more sotorate is almost overwhelming.” ✇ Italy, Greece and Ireland! Among than in the previous decade, and from a Reuter's dispatch unemployed Spanish youth, 21.25 women have a greater tendency to percent take from six to eleven join than men. As for religious mat-

Low NATO months to find work and 23.6 per-

cent take almost two years to find ters, over half the interviewees claimed to be non-practicing

contribution it. Nowadays one out of every four

young people looking for work have Catholics, although among those who said they were religious, the Spain remains one of the NATO been in this condition for over a majority attend Sunday mass.countries that spends least on year. There is widespread tolerance ofdefense, in terms of figures relating This situation means that euthanasia, abortion and homosex- THE VOLUNTEER, FALL 1994 9

The Brandeis archive at work

"Little did I know that the non - stained letter written home from a “entirely worth it,” and reported:descript box of files that Dr. trench somewhere in Spain – there “This project had more significance(Charles) Cutter randomly selected is a sense of immediacy that is sim- than any other serious work I’vefor me was soon to take so powerful a ply not possible to get from reading done to date.”grasp of my imagination, to propel reprinted letters in an anthology … According to Professor Mandrell,me to a time and place different from The war becomes personal when the addition of approximately 100,000any I’d ever experienced, yet vividly examined through such original Spanish Civil War documents thatpainted in my mind's eye … ” documents, because the feelings of have been housed in Moscow’s – Brandeis student on his use of the people involved shine through. Russian Center for the Preservation the Brandeis Library’s Spanish Their handwriting, their doodles, and Study of Modern History Docu- Civil War Collection. their phrasing … everything indi- ments to the library’s collection will cates that these were individuals further enrich these teaching and

A t Brandeis the rare books, rolls

of microfilm, and importantpapers that fill the shelves of the people with lives and opinions and personalities, not just ‘soldiers’ or ‘statistics.’” research activities. The Women’s Committee’s Library Benefactor pro- gram will fund the microfilming oflibrary’s Special Collections area This student, who estimates she these documents. ✇are not reserved just for faculty or spent 55 hours on her research pro-students. Undergraduates also rou- ject, felt the time commitment was Reprinted, in part, from Imprint/Summer '94.tinely use the library’s SpanishCivil War Collection for ProfessorJames Mandrell’s course on thewar. “Throughout my research, thenotion would continually cross mymind that Dr. Cutter (of the SpecialCollections Department) … or some-one was pulling a fast one on me,”the student continued. “The storiesthat the letters told seemed too con-tained, too juicy, to be actual docu-ments of actual events … When Ilook over the summary of materials,I don't see just names; rather, eachfile conjures up a breathtaking per-sona in my mind.” Another student observed: Photo courtesy Brandeis University, National Women’s Committee“There is something almost magical Brandeis student Stacey Ratner, ’94, searches through the archives of the library’sabout holding and reading a mud- Spanish Civil War collection.

News From Spain (cont’d) Draft resistance Ministry of Defense is worsened by

Spain’s drop in birthrate. Theual relationships. A majority also The spectacular increase in the defense minister, Julián Garcíaopposes the death penalty and mili- number of conscientious objectors to Vargas, has called for legal mea-tary service, and a fairly widespread military service may, in a few years sures to curb the number of objec-tolerance of prostitution. However, time, leave the Spanish Armed tors by examining their sinceritythere has been a reversal in tolerant Forces without sufficient recruits to before they are granted CO status.attitudes to drug addiction. cover the number of vacancies. The The Administration admits that The most rejected behavior pat- figures speak volumes: last year many objectors do not perform theterns are headed by physical vio- 68,209 young men took advantage legally available social servicelence (89 percent) and drunk dri- of this constitutional right, 61 per- because of the shortage of vacanciesving (88 percent). These are fol- cent more than in 1992. Reduction for it. A change in the law is beinglowed by abuse of drugs (75 percent) in applications for this year lead to sought to impose compulsory condi-and (not too closely) tax evasion (55 a growing fear that 1994 might end tions on the CO’s, similar to those ofpercent). ✇ with 106,000 new objectors. the military service. ✇ España ’94, No.240 The situation worrying the España ’94,No.24210 THE VOLUNTEER, FALL 1994

Culling the mail sack

✇ Milton Cohen, Lincoln/Mac Pap veteran, has What I want to bring out, though, is that these boysbeen memorialized in resolutions passed by the Illinois are all of Japanese descent. In fact the parents ofState Assembly and the City Council of Chicago. Both some of them are still in concentration camps backresolutions pay tribute to Milt’s six decades of activism home. As for me, and my work, all I can say is thatin the cause of peace and democracy, reviewed in the I’m an officer in a good infantry outfit. Oh, yes – I’mSpring ’94 issue of The Volunteer. a first Lieutenant, too. Right now we’re sort of rest- ing up holding a quiet sector in Italy. ✇ ✇ Veterans Milt Felsen, Bill Susman and SaulWellman last February toured a number of universitiesin South Florida, speaking to students about their SCWexperiences, the work of ALBA, and current VALBactivities opposing the U.S. embargo and the travel banon Cuba. [See photo, p. 13] Another 100 ✇ A letter from Harriet Kahn, widow of author By Al AmeryAlbert E. Kahn, recalls how she and her husband in1936 made a speaking tour of western cities and miningtowns, under the auspices of the Motion Picture ArtsCommittee, to raise money for medical supplies for the In spring I think about the flowers comingSpanish front. Albert later joined Pablo Neruda and and the leaves and the grassPablo Picasso on the World Peace Council and collabo- and the birds and the beesrated with Pablo Casals on his autobiographical book, and the old cycle of birth and death.Joys and Sorrows. This experience inspired him to write They say we need deatha poem in 1971, “Homage to the Three Pablos.” because we’d get bored if we lived forever; but I don’t know— ✇ Veteran Jack Penrod writes from Gainesville, since I’ve grown up and cultivatedFL, that since his retirement from the University of some brains in my ’30s,Florida’s English Department, he is doing hard time, I haven’t noticed being bored,nine hours a week, tutoring Job Corps candidates for and I am 88 now.high-school equivalency in basic math and language, So far as I’m concernedand another 12 hours a week reading tapes for use bysight-impaired students. I could live forever, yes— or at least for another 100 years. ✇ The Summer 1994 Bulletin of Grandmothers for Why not?Peace International carries Corine Thornton’s account of I’m sure there’ll be a lot of excitementthe VALB delegation that challenged the travel ban to with many changesCuba last fall. [See The Volunteer, Spring '94] in the next 100 years, and I wouldn’t refuse if offered the chance ✇ Bob Reed forwards for appropriate recollection a to keep on livingWWII battlefield letter carried by The Volunteer in1944. It was from Harry Schoenberg, a New Yorker, who with some ability to participate.had been adjutant of the Mac Paps: I know there’s a necessity for opposites, having figured it out for myself. … As far as the outfit I’m in is concerned, it’s (You need both pleasure and pain tops. We’re one of the few outfits that has gotten a to make pleasure significant, and good and evil.) War Department citation. The citation is given to a But I don’t see any need to be bored unit which executes a mission which, if performed by an individual, would rate a DSC. In our case, our if you can eat and sleep battalion destroyed in one afternoon (no artillery and swim and ski and dance, support either) a Nazi SS battalion; in the process and see the flowers again every spring captured about 12 of their jeeps, a number of trucks. and the miracle of colors again in the fall. Also a complete Regimental headquarters, with So put me down for another 100, everything intact including radios, maps, etc. if you can. Previously, we were the first outfit to successfully Thanks, and may I have the next dance? cross the Rapido River in the battle for Casino (January). I could go on for the rest of the letter. THE VOLUNTEER, FALL 1994 11

Rebels Without a Pause

VALB Dinner — East VALB Dinner — West

A ddresses by Peter Carroll, chair of the board of governors of the Abraham Lincoln BrigadeArchives, and by the Reverend Lucius Walker, of T he Bay Area Post’s 57th Anniversary dinner on February 27, at Oakland’s Parc Hotel, focused on support for the William Soler Pediatric Hospital inPastors for Peace, highlighted the 27th annual anniver- Cuba and for Dream West, a local community under-sary dinner of VALB’s East Coast Post. It took place at taking that funds scholarships for high school minoritythe Sheraton New York Hotel on April 24. Over 600 students. The celebration attracted over 750 guestsVALB members and associates attended. and netted more than $9,000 in contributions for these Perennial dinner chair Henry Foner, retired head projects.of the United Fur and Leather Workers Union, opened Milt Wolff, Post Commander, chaired the programthe post-prandial program by introducing Moe which he opened by urging the diners to support theFishman, who spoke for the Post executive staff. After campaign for California’s single-payer health plan. Hepaying tribute to the vets fallen since last year's noted that the day marked the Lincoln’s baptism ofanniversary, Moe named the vets present, asked each fire, 57 years before at Jarama. Evoking the solemnityto stand for a group tribute by the guests. The entire of the occasion, he then read Ed Rolfe’s classic poemaudience then rose for a moment of silent tribute to all First Love.the fallen heroes and supporters of the good fight Continuing tradition, there followed a roll call ofagainst war and oppression. the 19 VALB members who had joined the ranks of the Peter Carroll next reviewed the successful fallen in the past year. The vets among the diners wereALBA/VALB $100,000 fund-raising campaign for then asked to stand for an unusual tribute – a voiceobtaining a microfilmed copy of the Brigade documents from the past, a recording of Ernest Hemingway read-deposited in the Moscow archives. Reporting that the ing his 1939 New Masses essay, On the American Deadfirst batch of the microfilm had already reached the in Spain. [See p. 5]ALBA office at Brandeis University, he described Walter Turner, professor at the College of Marinexamples of how the material had confirmed the body County and President of the Board of Global Exchange,of published VALB history, as well as refuted past and next spoke on the campaign to end the U.S. embargo ofcurrent detractors. Cuba and of his own empathy with VALB and its histo- The featured speaker, the Reverend Lucius ry. He urged continued defiance of the travel ban andWalker, followed. He traced the significant role played embargo, exemplified earlier this year by veteransover the years by Pastors for Peace in the fight to lift Hilda Roberts, Milt Felsen and Milt Wolff.the embargo on Cuba. Stressing the need to intensify A tribute to Steve Nelson, late Commander of thethe campaign to end VALB, was thenthe U.S. embargo on delivered by notedCuba, he outlined author and VALB

Continued on page 12 Continued on page 12

After paying The vets were

tribute to the asked to stand vets fallen for an unusual since last tribute — a year’s anniver- voice from the sary, Moe past: a record- (Fishman) ing of Ernest named the vets Hemingway present, asked reading his each to stand essay, “On the for a tribute by American Dead the guests. Leonard Olson and his daughter, associate member Hannah Coyle, at the West in Spain.” Coast dinner in Oakland.12 THE VOLUNTEER, FALL 1994

Above: Ben Lane (left) and Ed Bender in Oakland.

Left: The Bay Area Dance Brigade.

West Coast She also talked with a grand-

son, Steve’s namesake, who book “Prisoners of the Good Fight,” declaring that the Lincoln BrigadeContinued from page 11 recalled, “He told me stories … the went to Spain “because we wereassociate, Jessica Mitford. She strikes he was involved with. He alarmed about what was happeningshared three incidents that she felt never preached.” [there].” Invoking also the memory ofcaptured something of Steve’s Jessica concluded with an ironic the ’60s Civil Rights Movement, hemany-layered life. The first was sidelight of Steve’s Pittsburgh trial spoke of the need for massive voterrelated by her daughter, Constanza, for sedition. During the proceed- registration and for internationalwho, midway during the Cape Cod ings, Arthur Miller’s play “The solidarity extending far into thememorial to Steve, felt “that some- Crucible” came to town and was future, if a truly non-racial democra-thing was missing … there had seen by the prosecutors, who cy is to be built in South Africa.been no mention of the Communist applauded it. Steve chuckled at The successful fund appeal fol-Party. She queried Steve’s son, Bob, their obliviousness to the drama's lowed. It was a cooperative effort byabout what it had been like to be in theme – a parable of the witchhunt Gloria Riva of Pastors for Peace,a family constantly hounded by the they were conducting against Steve Dream West’s Michael Thomas andFBI: “From my point of view,” he and his co-defendants. Milt Wolff.said. “It seemed quite normal.” The keynote speaker, Maykaha The event concluded with per- Mosia, ANC Representative to formances by the Bay Area Dance Cuba, the Caribbean and Latin Brigade (a women’s group) and theEast Coast America, was then introduced. His speech focused on the imminent Latin jazz music of John Santos and Friends. ✇Continued from page 11 South African elections. He opened Roby Newmanthe plans for a stepped-up reprise of with a quotation from Carl Geiser’s Associate VALB memberactivities scheduled to culminate in West Coast dinner photos by Richard Bermackanother Friendship Caravan, laterin the year, to deliver sorely neededmedical equipment to Havana. The perennial fund appeal wasmade by Henry Foner, in his usuallow keyed, highly effective style. Itproduced a collection of over $7,000.Augmented by ticket sales andmailed-in contributions, the affairnetted over $17,000. The dinner concluded with asing-along concert presented by theWalkabout/Clearwater Chorus, ledby son of Lincoln vet Harry Fisher.Over fifty of the Fisher family andfriends were in attendance as a spe-cial tribute to Harry's wife, Ruth,who passed away last Spring. ✇ Maykaha Mosia Jessica Mitford Walter Turner THE VOLUNTEER, FALL 1994 13

ALBA at Work Shouts from the Wall as an exhibit cal “to bring home, once and for all, From all peoples, from all during April and May of 1996. the official record of the young Amer- races, you came to us like brothers, People with information about icans who risked, and often gave, their like sons of undying Spain; and in Spanish Civil War art, prospective the hardest days of the war, when lives in the fight against fascism.” donors who might want to support the capital of the Spanish Planning for 1966 Republic was threatened, it was the travelling exhibit, or anyone you, gallant comrades of the with suggestions of museums or Meanwhile, ALBA is beginning International Brigades, who university galleries which might to plan for 1996, the sixtieth helped save the city with your want to mount the exhibit during anniversary of the outbreak of fas- fighting enthusiasm, your heroism its journey, should contact ALBA cist rebellion in Spain. Plans are and your spirit of sacrifice … executive director, Rob Okun, at being formulated for a major com- La Pasionaria 413-367-9526. memoration which would follow in the spirit and scope of the fiftiethBy Rob Okun The Moscow Archives anniversary commemoration in Many readers of The Volunteer Avery Fisher Hall, New York.

K eeping alive the words of La

Pasionaria is one of the mis-sions of the Abraham Lincoln know that ALBA and VALB, in the Spring of 1993, learned what had long been suspected – that the sin- Speakers, music, dramatic presenta- tions and a tribute to the Vets are the focus of plans being worked onBrigade Archives (ALBA). This is gle largest cache of archival materi- for the program. ALBA will workboth a privilege and a responsibili- als on the International Brigades with its affiliates and the West Coastty. As we approach the end of 1994, was in a Moscow repository. Peter Vets to plan commemorations in SanALBA has added another major pro- Carroll, Chair of ALBA’s board, vis- Francisco and/or Los Angeles.ject to to its agenda. ited Moscow and confirmed the sig- nificance of the treasure trove ALBA asks for bequestsA touring art exhibit housed at the Russian Center for Augmenting its fundraising ALBA is organizing a national the Preservation and Study of the efforts, ALBA is asking its support-touring-art exhibit, Shouts from the Documents of Modern History. ers to include a bequest to it in theirW a l l : Art and the Spanish Civil ALBA, with the full support of wills. This will assure, far into theWar. It is scheduled to open in New VALB, launched a major fund rais- future, the continuance of ALBA’sYork in early 1996, the sixtieth ing drive to pay for the microfilming mission to preserve and promoteanniversary of the start of the of more than 100,000 documents. the story of the Abraham LincolnSpanish Civil War. Spearheaded by ALBA board Brigade and its veterans. Funded in part by a $25,000 member and Lincoln vet Saul Full information on how togrant from the New Jersey-based Wellman, with assistance from name ALBA in a will may bePuffin Foundation, the exhibit will VALB and readers of The obtained by writing:feature many of the gripping posters Volunteer, a total of $100,000 was ALBA, Box L11by Spanish artists that are in raised. The first batch of micofilmed Brandeis UniversityALBA’s collection at Brandeis Uni- documents was sent from Moscow to Waltham, MA 02254versity. Other art, including pho- Brandeis in May and further ship-tographs, will augment the posters. ments will be made throughout the The 2nd edition of Rob Okun’s TheMounted display-text will feature summer. Rosenbergs: Collected Visions of Artists and Writers was published in 1993.classic writings about the war by In Peter Carroll’s words, it is criti-authors such as Lillian Hellman, Herb Snitzer

Ernest Hemingway, Dorothy Parker

and Langston Hughes. Shouts from the Wall will dramati-cally and powerfully introduce youngergenerations to the fight against fas-cism, through the images and words ofthose who often see things most clear-ly: artists and writers. In addition to its role as a lead-ing funder of progressive art pro-jects, the Puffin Foundation main-tains a Manhattan gallery, the Vets caught at a speakers’ line-up for a University of South Florida lecture: (l-r) SaulPuffin Room, in Soho. It will mount Wellman, Milt Felsen, Bill Susman.14 THE VOLUNTEER, FALL 1994

Added to Memory’s Roster

Nils Berg walk-around shaped much of Nils’

later life. But there were other peaks scaled by Luke in the course of his 88 It was in Provincetown that years. The following is based, in Nils met Eva, a young waitress Born in a Sacramento Valley part, on a story in The Advocate and school teacher at the Flagship town, Luke, before Spain, was a of Provincetown, Massachusetts, Restaurant. They married in 1950. political activist and labor orga- July 14, 1994. On his retirement from nizer in the bitter campaigns to McCann Erickson in 1965, Nils unionize the cannery and agricul-

N ils Waldemar Berg, a veteran

of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade, died in Provincetown, and Eva bought the Flagship, rebuilt it to his redesign and tural workers of Northern California. Joining the Lincoln renamed it Pepe’s Wharf Restaur- Battalion’s headquarters company Massachusetts on July 6. He came ant. A prime Provincetown attrac- in the winter of 1937, he served as to the Cape Cod tourist center by tion, it is now presided over by chief scout from Teruel until the accident in the 1940's, turned a Nils’ daughter, Astrid Karinna IB withdrawal in September 1938. soup-and-sandwich counter into Berg. On his return from Spain, Pepe’s Wharf, a landmark restau- Three Lincoln veterans, Tom Luke went to work as an organizer rant, and became an honored O’Malley, Jack Shafran and Jack for the United Cannery, elder of the town. Bjoze, attended Nils’ funeral at St. Agricultural, Packing and Allied Born in Sweden in 1914, Nils Mary of the Harbor Church, with Workers union and led a strike of was three years old when his par- the Rev. George Welles, Jr., pre- fruit pickers against the DiGeorgio ents emigrated to the USA. siding. Corporation that achieved nation- Although reared in New York City “Nils was a very outgoing per- al attention, as well as an arrest he retained his Swedish citizen- son, very interested in people and and jail sentence for Luke. ship. An early IB volunteer, Nils the world. …He went to Spain In the ’40s Luke resettled in joined the Lincoln Battalion at because the world around him Covelo, began work as a millhand Jarama where he suffered a crip- wasn’t so good then,” Shafran at the Louisiana Pacific Corp., a pling hand wound that resulted in said. “Not only was fascism rear- stint that continued until his his repatriation in 1937. ing its ugly head in Europe, but retirement in 1970. By 1940, Nils’ art talent had back home the country was in the Agatha Hinman asks, “If any- earned him a job at the presti- grips of the Great Depression..” one has anything they would like gious McCann Erickson Advert- Jack Bjoze told of his difficulty to share with us about papa Luke, ising Agency where he became a “to express my feelings about Nils please write or call” – 5121 senior art director on accounts or to explain why he was such a Ygnacio Ave., Oakland, CA 94601; such as General Motors. That tal- special friend. The last time he phone: 510-532-7835. ✇ ent also served VALB. Nils’ spent the night at my house, he designs of the posters and tickets talked incessantly about world for the pre-World War II annual events. His knowledge of the world VALB anniversary dances con- and its complexities was much Hy Rosner tributed to their invariably capaci- broader and deeper than many of ty crowds and remain cherished personal momentos today. his friends realized. It was based on personal wisdom.” ✇ H y Rosner, veteran of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade, died on May 14 at the age of 90 in As retold by son Jonathan, Nils’ introduction to Provincetown Oakland. Hy and Ruth Simon, his was an almost apocryphal tale. It began with a planned visit to an Luke Hinman surviving companion, have been active members of the Bay Area VALB Post since 1978. L artist friend in Rockport. At the uke (Loyal Anson) H i n m a n , New York railroad ticket office, called by Milt Wolff “the best Hy was a frontline ambulance Nils could not remember the scout the Lincoln’s ever had,” suc- driver on the Jarama front until name of his destination and told cumbed to cancer on May 3, in hand and back wounds suffered in the clerk he wanted to go “to that Covelo ,CA. Spain for Luke, his a fascist bombing incapacitated artist colony in Massachusetts.” daughter Agatha writes, him for further service. He was The ticket seller routed him to “remained the most deeply felt, repatriated in 1937 to Phila- Provincetown where his first memorable experience of his life.” delphia where he had lived while THE VOLUNTEER, FALL 1994 15

Added to Memory’s Roster

shipping out as a merchant sea- them to Richmond in Northern about the time Stout found two bot-man. California in 1978. There, as close tles of expensive liquor on his desk, Hy quit school at sixteen, friends of the Veltforts, they settled a holiday gift from the bosses.became a seaman, and joined the in among the qualified “forever When he learned they wereNMU. Between berths, he played activists” of the Bay Area Post. ✇ from the employers, he walked intosemi-professional handball at the the kitchen, poured the bottlesPhiladelphia Elks Club, earning a down the drain, and said, “This isfew bucks in exhibition matches for the staff for the office party.”for visiting Elks. Frank Stout Stout and others opposed a After Spain, slowed down by Frank Stout died in Berkeley, new section of the longshore con-his war wounds, Hy worked as CA, on November 5, 1993. He tract known as “efficient opera-part-time assistant to a pharma- served in the Lincoln Battalion, tions.” Today that provision hascist friend. At the outbreak of WW earning a citation for his perfor - allowed employers to encroach onII, failing to clear the Navy physi- mance in the Ebro counteroffen - traditional longshore jurisdictioncal exam, he rejoined the Mer- sive of July 1939 where he was by giving work to managementchant Marine. His wartime ser- severely wounded. and non-union workers.vice was ended in 1943 by a Nazi The following is excerpted Austin, a former coast com-bombing of his convoyed Liberty from a tribute to Frank published mitteeman, said that Stout wasship in the North Atlantic. It cost in The Dispatcher, newspaper of president at a time when Local 10him a leg and many months of the International Longshore and was fighting a lot of battles: overhospitalization and prosthesis. Warehouse Union (ILWU). large debts, the future of its dis- patch hall on a prime piece of real For his heroic wartime ser- estate and mechanization on thevice, Hy was awarded a VictoryMedal with a presidential citationthat read: S tout began his life-long dedica- waterfront. tion to fighting injustice even Stout is survived by Ann, his before the ILWU was formed, widow of 54 years, a son and two To you who answered the call when he became a union organiz- daughters. ✇of your country and served in its er among cannery workers inmerchant marine to bring about California in the early 1930s.the total defeat of the enemy, I Spain When the civil war began in in 1936, Stout served with George Wattextend the heartfelt thanks of theNation. You undertook a mostsevere task – one which called for 3,000 other Americans in the International Brigades to defend I felt a little sad at my approach- ing death,” wrote George Watt about plummeting toward earthcourage and fortitude. Because the Republican government in a stricken B-17 on his thirtiethyou demonstrated the resourceful - against the fascist military birthday in 1943, “but two wordsness and calm judgment necessary counter-revolution. He was shot in kept running through my mind –to carry out that task, we now look the stomach during the war. no regrets, no regrets. I believe Ito you for leadership and example When he returned to San Francisco, he joined the ILWU and must have spoken them aloud. Noin further serving our country for regrets because I had lived my lifepeace. worked on the waterfront as a long- shoreman from 1943 to 1975 when the way I wanted it. I knew what Hy’s experiences in two wars he retired. The membership of Local comradeship among men andstrengthened a resolve to recap- 10 elected him president in 1973. women meant. I knew what it wasture his health and strength. He Stout is remembered by his to love and be loved. I had had mysucceeded in this – learning to co-workers as honest, quiet, inde- share of personal hardship andswim, working part-time as a pendent, hard-working, meticu- deep personal tragedy, but above“newsy” on a busy corner in New lous and serious. Richard Austin, all I had that special kind of hap-York City, assisting Ruth’s child- a Local 10 brother during the ’70s, piness which comes to one whorearing while she worked as a recalled Stout as a patient teacher can say he has lived his life with aseismologist at the Colorado and mentor. purpose.”School of Mines in Golden, where Austin also said Stout drew a George Watt, dead at 80 onthey had moved in 1966. strong line between the union and A new job for Ruth brought the employers, and told a story Continued on page 1616 THE VOLUNTEER, FALL 1994

Added to Memory’s Roster

Continued from page 15 Army Air Corps during World colleagues and friends. War II. His exploits as a waist- George’s commitment to anti- July 7, has left behind a legacy of gunner are the subject of his fascism and social justice was purpose, but also, deep regrets remarkable book, The Comet intense and passionate, but among the veterans who survive Connection: Escape from Hitler's always on a human scale. He him. As a leader of the American Europe [(University of Kentucky believed fervently in honest dis- student protest movement of the Press, 1990; Warner Books, 1992], cussions, and he was widely 1930s (The National Student which describes his courageous respected for the honesty of the League, the American Student escape from enemy-occupied terri- positions he took. And he contin- Union) before he went to Spain in tory after his plane was shot down ued to study the lessons of the 1937, George attained positions of over Belgium. Typically, George Spanish war and its implications responsibility in left-wing circles used the book to honor the heroic for political change. In a contro- while in his early twenties. But it Belgian people who gave him shel- versial speech presented at the was his spirit of quiet dignity and ter and sped him on a safe route Smithsonian Institution during sincere modesty that characterized to neutral Spain. As a result, the 50th anniversary commemora- his political bearing. Indeed he George was one of the few tion of the Spanish Civil War, was “too embarrassed,” George Lincolns who had to climb the George reminded the veterans of once admitted, to show anyone the Pyrenees twice! their obligations to historical credentials that he had received in With the ending of World War truth and warned of “the pitfalls New York, that might have given II, he returned to political work, of blind, unquestioning faith in him a privileged position in Spain. but resigned from the Communist any movement, no matter how Instead, he rose through the ranks Party in the 1950s. He later to become battalion commissar worthy the objectives.” admitted that “breaking with the during the final battles of the war. party was the most traumatic In recent years, George served A famous photograph by Robert episode of my life.” Yet he contin- on the executive committee of Capa captures George marching at ued to grow. He resumed his edu- ALBA, skillfully mediating the the head of the Lincoln Brigade cation, earned a degree in social nitty-gritty discussions. He (with Major Milton Wolff and Don work, and became a highly remained a powerful voice of rea- Thayer) at the farewell ceremonies respected administrator of the son and responsibility. And while in Barcelona in 1938. community health center at George Watt could boast After the Spanish war, George Maimonedes Hospital in New deservedly of a life with “no worked as an organizer of the York. George’s tireless efforts and regrets,” he had left behind an industrial division of the Com- love of people of all cultures and unhealing wound in the heart of munist Party, then enlisted in the races won the admiration of his our veterans’ organization. ✇

News From Abroad

Australia Civil War; loved his charm and

appreciated his helpfulness. We cor- ed in the Spring issue of T h e Volunteer, and I enclose these few

I have been away from home and

have just read of the death ofSteve Nelson and Charlie Nusser, responded after that and met again in Spain during the homage to the Brigadiers in 1986. dollars left in our bank account for your Abraham Lincoln Brigade Archives appeal, in memory ofboth men I somehow believed would When our committee was Charlie Nusser. ✇live forever. And they will, too, like formed in 1992 to raise money for aJoe Hill, in the memories of their memorial to the Australians who Salud, Amirah Inglisfriends and those who believe and went to the aid of the Spanishwork for a better life on this earth. Republic, I wrote to the New York I met Charlie first in the office, and soon after, a donation More News From AbroadBroadway offices, in April 1985, arrived with a cheery note fromwhen I was researching my book on Charlie. on pages 20-22the Australians and the Spanish Our work is over, as you report- THE VOLUNTEER, FALL 1994 17

Rebels Without a Pause

treatments, with nothing more thanIn quest of Edythe candlelight. We have currently reorganized our system of work and are nowA wistful letter from Vet Ed Lending prompted a search forpost-Spain information about Mae Problems exist everywhere. Out here our main trials and tribulations increase with the advent of winter. using the rotating system whereby each nurse is given a certain definiteEdythe Dyer, a Philadelphia nurse The wards are poorly heated. The period on each service, including thewho served in the American B a s e sole sources of heat are small coal front service. We have a unit,Hospital at Villa Paz, from the sum- stoves that radiate very little attached to a brigade, which movesmer of ’37 until the war’s end. It was warmth and, due to the scarcity of at a moment’s’ notice.there that she took special care of fuel, operate on a “one day on, one Envied indeed are the nursesEd’s arm wound suffered at Brunete. day off” schedule. It is not an uncom- who are part of the front group.Six decades later, he was avid to mon sight to see nurses doing their Isolated as we are here, one hearslearn more of the woman whose daily tasks attired in ski pants, but one complaint and that is, “Whendaily attention assured his present sheepskin coats and long woolen are we going to the front?”...capability for geriatric tennis. gloves. The nurses have been good sol- Although a current search for New Year’s Day, the hospital was diers, fighting for their ideals just asEdythe fell short of its post-Spain presented with 15,300 pesetas by the surely as if they were fighting at thegoal, it unearthed two documents patients and personnel. This sum is front. We give all we can, and get inshe wrote during her service at to be used for the installation of a return a deeper understanding ofCastillejo. One is a rambling letter lighting system whereby we can be human beings, something we shallfrom Edythe to a Philadelphia assured of electricity at all times. Our keep for the rest of our lives. We havefriend, Naomi Wohlgemuth Davis, X-ray department is working under lived through a time of suffering heremother of VALB associate, Julie great difficulties due to lack of cur- in Spain and shall not forget it. ✇Davis Carran. It focuses on incidents rent. It is impossible for the patientsand conditions of life at Villa Paz, to read after 4 p.m. It is doubly hard A M I : Periòdico de la Ayudaincluding her attendance at a for the nurses to continue with their Médica Extranjera, No.. 9,Conference of Antifascist Women in tasks, to read thermometers and give Barcelona Feb. 1, 1938.“V---” [Valencia, Ed.] on November 7,1937, to which she was sent as a del-egate. She expresses her happinessat being slated for duty at the front. Timeless in Seattle The second Dyer archive was This is excerpted from an article been active in local and internation-unearthed by historian/author that appeared in University Week, pub - al issues, including civil rights andFrances Patai. It is an article that lished by the Office of University trade union organization. They livedEdythe wrote for the news bulletin Services, University of Washington, May stories as compelling as the oneof AMI, the organization for over- 5, 1994. Hemingway wrote. And now theirseas medical aid to Spain. It reads stories are finally available in theiras follows: own words through letters, diaries

Nurses draw lots I t was 1937. Young idealists left

their Pacific Northwest homes and colleges to do battle in Spain along- and memorabilia recently donated to the UW Libraries’ manuscripts. The neatly bound and carefully for the Front! side fellow international volunteers. organized notebooks and folders – Ernest Hemingway was their war called the Pacific Northwest The work of the nurses in the correspondent, and his book, F o r Collective Biography – were pre- American Base Hospital is quite dif- Whom the Bell Tolls , their story. pared and donated by Seattle resi- ferent from the type of work carried [Not quite so, see p. 5 — Editor] dent and Lincoln Brigade veteran on in the front line hospitals. About 250 still survive, many of Robert Reed. Since his 1969 retire- Our hospitals, having been them now mostly in their 80s. ment he has devoted much of his established here since April 1937, The story of the Lincoln Brigade energy to the veterans of the Lincoln are today running smoothly with no is also a story of Seattle. The local brigade, and has compiled a four- greater handicaps than those caused contingent is small these days – part collection that tells the story of by the season, location and the times. nine men – but it is still one of the the Pacific Northwest veterans. We take great pride in our hospital, nation’s most active brigade groups. UW History Professor Joan built up through sheer hard labor Over the years these men, along and ingenuity. with now-deceased colleagues, have Continued on page 1818 THE VOLUNTEER, FALL 1994

Timeless in Seattle manufacturing family in Tacoma,

went to Spain for nearly a year atContinued from page 17 The file folders are intriguing: the age of 32. The U.S. State • Thane Summers, a former Department files in the NationalUllman describes the fruit of Reed’s UW student and son of a prominent Archives contain 38 pages related tolabors as “one of the best Lincoln and conservative Seattle maritime him, much of it correspondence frombrigade collections in the United attorney, was killed in Spain. His his parents in efforts to bring himStates.” It will serve researchers father blamed the university and home. His 1991 obituary noted thatwell, she says. A sampling of the particular professors, including he had been frequently blackballedcollection is now on display at the Giovanni Costigan, for corrupting his from engineering jobs connectedentrance to Manuscripts and son. The father’s resentments and with the U.S. government because ofArchives in the Allen library, and political influence were considered to his socialist ideals, his stint in Spainthe entire collection is accessible at have helped establish the Canwell and his support for the ACLU.the manuscripts desk. Committee in 1948, in which several Ullman, who specializes in mod-ern Spanish history, and KarylWinn, curator of manuscripts, gave university professors were accused of Communist Party affiliations. Time magazine of July 25, 1938, carried a F or Haley and many others, the Lincoln brigade was just the begin- ning of a lifelong struggle against socialReed guidelines for organizing the story on Thane’ s death. injustice. Many were Black. Some werematerial. The biographical dictio- • Evelyn Hutchins, born in trade union organizers, civil rightsnary he created contains one entry Snohomish to a suffragette mother, activists and people willing to suffer forfor 100 individuals from the Pacific was a children’s photographer their convictions. Being blackballed asNorthwest who served in the brigade before going to Spain as an ambu- communist sympathizers or trouble-(29 died fighting in Spain). lance driver. Her role in the war was makers was a common experience.Additional material on 50 of the vets celebrated in the film, The Good Even today the Seattle chapter of theis contained in file folders. A booklet, Fight, and in a Harpers Weekly arti- Veterans of the Abraham Lincoln“News from the Thirties,” contains cle, Evelyn the Truck Driver. Shortly Brigade opposes U.S. involvement intyped excerpts from newspaper before her death in 1982 she Central America, especially El Salvadoraccounts written by or about Pacific recalled Spain as “a chance to fight and Nicaragua, and other causes.Northwest volunteers. And a source American chauvinism.” Reed made a career of his com-book contains general miscellaneous • Clifford Jonathan Haley, Jr., a mitment to a better world. Hematerial about the volunteer group. member of the prominent candy received a master’s degree in social work from the UW and for many years was director of Holly Park Wayne State update branch of the Neighborhood House, a Seattle social service agency. Dear Editor: included several editors of the stu- Reed describes the war as “the I thought your readers might dent newspaper, a med student biggest event of my life.” His service like an update on the activities of the who set up a clinic and activists in record, on display in the manu- Wayne State University Abraham the struggle for freedom in South scripts exhibit, shows that he fought Lincoln Brigade Scholarship Fund. Africa and Central America. in every major battle until Sept. 25, The fund honors four WSU students We met on May 6th this year to 1938, when the Republican govern- who left the university to fight in see the first Detroit showing of ment withdrew the International Spain. Bob Nagle, the only one of the “Forever Activists,” and to award the Brigades from the front. original four alive, is a founding $600 scholarships to Charles Smith W.H. Auden, the English poet, member of our organization. Since for his work in cultural, Native spent time in Spain and tried to 1982, we have sponsored a yearly American and environmental mat- capture the spirit of the event at which we hear a lecture or ters, and to Kathy Garrett for her International Brigades in his con- music or see a film related to the leadership in the attempt to organize troversial poem, Spain 1937: Spanish Civil War. In addition, we teaching assistants on campus. What’s your proposal? To build make our annual scholarship Local vets who participate in just the city? I will. awards at the event. these activities are, aside from I agree. Or is it the suicide pact, Among those who have spoken Nagle, Les Rowlson, Sid Linn, Les the romantic have been Saul Wellman, Steve Kish, Bob Cummins and Marion Death? Very well, I accept for Nelson, Robin Kelley and Edward Noble. I am your choice, your decision. Malefakis. We have given scholar- Mel Smith Yes I am Spain. ships to nineteen Wayne State stu- History Dept. And Reed captures the spirit of dents whose activities reflect the Wayne State University the Brigade’s Pacific Northwest con- values of the brigaders. These have Detroit, MI 48202 tingent in his collection. ✇ Nedra Floyd Pautler THE VOLUNTEER, FALL 1994 19

My Jewish comrades T his is an extract of an article town of Albares, about 25 kilome- restored his health.which appeared in Jewish Currents in ters from Madrid. We were at rest Paul was reassigned to theMarch. It had been submitted for publi - after the brutal Brunete offensive – International Brigade base atcation in June 1993, five months beforeCharles Nusser died last November. reequipping and awaiting replace- Albacete where he was put on a com- ments for the dead and wounded. mission charged with producing a One day we heard that some book on the history of the 15thBy Charles Nusser Americans would be coming in from Brigade. Later, during the big the training camp to fill the depleted Republican retreats on the Ebro front,

D uring the rise (and victory) of

fascism in Europe, I had oftenheard or read assertions that Jews ranks. Some of us went down to the village plaza to greet them. About two o’clock that afternoon, several Hitler poured in huge amounts of the most modern tanks and artillery, plus the Condor legion in the air.did not resist: they went meekly to trucks pulled into the square. I On the Republic’s side, the calltheir fate, leaving the fight against walked over to one truck, and as one went out for frontline volunteers.fascism to others. Follow this line of of the soldiers hit the ground I Paul responded. He rejoined thethought to its logical conclusion and grabbed him. Battalion. On August 18, 1938, Paulwhere do you arrive? If Jews did not “What the hell took you so Wendorf was killed in action of theresist, then everything that followed long?” I demanded. Sierra de Pandols.– right up to and including the “I knew I’d find you here,” heHolocaust – was their own fault. Such assertions always evoked aviolent reaction on my part. An anti- replied. Harry Levine and Charlie Nusser, graduates of President Roosevelt’s CCC, were reunited T wo of my closest friends, Harry Levine and Paul Wendorf, both Jews, died fighting fascism in Spain.Semitic lie, no matter how fashion- again, this time in Spain to fight After Spain, I married Paul’s widow.ably it is dressed up, remains just fascism together. Jack Weiss, Paul Niepold,that – a lie, slander. I know this A few weeks later, on the first “Chick” Chaikin … I could go onfrom bitter personal experience. In day of the Aragon offensive, outside and on. Probably 20 percent or moreSpain I saw too many bodies. Bodies the cemetery at Quinto, Harry of the Lincoln Battalion were Jews.with names like Max Abramowitz, Levine was shot while lying on the Jews made up close to 50 percent ofHershkowitz – Hy, Joe and Sam ground about ten feet from where I the American Medical Bureau head-(known as the three Stone brothers). lay. He died a few days later. He ed by Dr. Edward Barsky. It is esti- Hy was withdrawn from the never had a chance to fire a single mated that 22 to 25 percent of allLincoln Battalion after the Brunete shot against the enemy. International Brigaders were Jews.campaign. Joe and Sam were both More Jews, proportionately, foughtkilled in action. Other names are OTHER NAMES – Paul Block, against fascism in Spain than anywith me yet: Al Kaufman, Milton Jack Freeman, Rubin Schecter, other minority. And it was in SpainRappaport, Irving Keith, Manny Sam Levinger. Sam was from that the first organized armed resis-Mandel, Harry Levine. Columbus, Ohio. His father was a tance took place. rabbi, and Sam was a YPSL (Young Some years ago, when speaking HARRY LEVINE: I first met People’s Socialist League) and a on this subject, I was approached byhim in 1933 in a CCC ( C i v i l i a n member of the American Student a young man who asked, “Why doConservation Corps) camp in Union. He was 19 when he was you get so aggravated, so stirred up,Pennsylvania. I was from killed at Belchite. so vehement? After all, you are not aPittsburgh; Harry was from Ben Barsky, Leo Gordon, Paul Jew.” No, I am not a Jew. But JewsPhiladelphia. We became fast Wendorf. Paul and I went over are not the only victims of anti-friends. I played shortstop on the together on the SS Paris. We Semitism. They are, of course, thebaseball team, Harry second base. became good friends on the boat, first. Before the war, Hitler usedWe were both on the basketball and shared a dugout on the Jarama anti-Semitism to sow hatred, distrustteam. He was a skillful boxer. Some front, until he transferred to the and disunity throughout Germany.winter mornings were very cold. Tom Mooney machine gun compa- He used it to destroy democracy itselfThe guys didn’t want to go out to ny. We both went through Jarama – the prerequisite to his program forwork. So we were involved in a few and Brunete. I was wounded at a fascist, racist world.sit-down stoppages together. Villanueva de la Cañada in the History teaches the necessity of Later on, I went home to Pitts- Brunete fighting, but Paul was maintaining a complete andburgh, Harry to Philadelphia, and unscathed. Instead he came down uncompromising intolerance of thewe kind of lost track of each other. with jaundice at the end of the bat- poison of anti-Semitism – in the In August 1937, the Lincoln tle for Brunete. He was sent to a interest not only of Jews, but of allBattalion was stationed in the little hospital where rest and better food decent humanity. ✇20 THE VOLUNTEER, FALL 1994

News From Abroad

A year-end greeting from become proprietors of two rooms in

a cottage in Malakhova, a country place some thirty kilometers fromthe Russian IBers Moscow. Previously, the cottage had belonged to a cooperative. We pay

C ongratulations on the New

Year, 1994. We wish you healthand good fortune and success in With respect, Soviet War Veterans, Spanish Section rent for two rooms and have a nice plot of land with fruit and other trees, different bushes and floweryour work for humankind. Victor Lavsky, beds. The woods are not far off. We, old veterans of the Civil Air Force Lt. General Thus, Sasha [Percy’s wife—Ed]War in Spain of 1936-39, despite Secretary V. Aleksandrovsky and I have a nice place to live in thethe complex conditions in which we country. But there is plenty of badfind ourselves, even as then, are with the good. Moscow stinks ofactive in the struggle for peace. commercialism. The city is plas- We, like yourselves, well know tered all over with advertisementswhat a misfortune it is for a people of foreign wines, cigarettes andto be at war. Today there are many night clubs. Thousands of smallconflicts which nationalistic and shops have appeared that do a roar-chauvinistic groups try to settle in a ing trade in wines, tinned foodwarlike manner – in Yugoslavia, stuffs, chewing gum. Tens of thou-Armenia, Azerbaijan, Afghanistan, sands of vendors ply their pettyetc. goods in the streets. We hope your life in the U.S. However, the queues in thecontinues to be stable, in compari- shops for basic food have disap-son to ours. As you must know, peared and they are well-stocked,events in Russia are very unpre- mainly with foreign foodstuffs – anddictable, and this negatively affects the prices are biting. Such goods asthe lives and activity of the veter-ans of the Spanish Civil War. A letter from cotton stockings, light bulbs, electri- cal appliances and toothbrushes are Last year our television chan-nel, Russia, presented the first of a Percy not available. Industrial production continuesseries of programs, titled: T h e Excerpts of a lengthy letter from to fall (25 percent below 1993, in theUnknown Wars. The first film, Soviet veteran Percy Ludwick, Chief first three months of 1994). In theOperation X, concerned the Spanish Engineer of the 15th Brigade. Soviet times it was based on the wideCivil War of 1936-39. It dealt with decentralization of component parts.the Soviet volunteers (pilots, Moscow, July 1, 1994 Now, with the establishment of inde-tankists, etc.) and also showed Dear Len and Goldie, pendent states, all the industrialarchival footage of the Political tensions here have sub- establishments belong to the countryInternational Brigades. We have sided somewhat. Prices for food- where they are sited. Ties betweenthe actual cassette of these films stuffs, gas, electricity, telephones, the factories have been severed.and it would be good to view it rents and what not have risen All the factories have hugetogether with the Abraham Lincoln astronomically for three years and mutual debts. It is costly to produceBrigade Veterans. We want to be they continue to do so. Salaries and tractors and machine tools indepen-with you and show it but, unfortu- pensions, however, are indexed dently and few buyers can affordnately the high cost of the Moscow- periodically. Thus, living standards the high prices for machines. OurNew York ticket prevents that. Our for most people are tolerable. pundits predict that this year willsmall pensions constitute the obsta- Privatization is slowly but see many factories going bankrupt,cle. remorselessly gaining ground. The with a corresponding rise in unem- We hope that, during this diffi- large enterprises have just begun to ployment and social unrest.cult time for our country, we shall be privatized. Some one million Our veterans’ work in thehave the enduring friendship of all Muscovites, having paid a small fee, schools has suffered. In today’s cli-veterans. now own their own flats. They can mate it is difficult here to propagate To receive your letters is a real now sell, lease or bequeath their the idealism of the Internationalsupport for us. They help us believe flats at will. We personally have not Brigades. Talented youngsters arein the future. privatized our flat, but we have dropping out of their studies of sci- THE VOLUNTEER, FALL 1994 21

England L ast year, Stoke-on-Trent's City Council agreed to run a series of annual lectures in memory of the five volunteers from the city who joined the the British Battalion, linking their antifascist struggle with the need to combat the rise of fascism today. The inaugural lecture was delivered last February by Roger Bickerstaffe, associate general sec- retary of Britain’s largest union, the public employees’ union. His subject was “Learning the Lesson, No Fascist Revival.” We had excellent media publici- Sasha and Percy Ludwick in 1941, at the time they volunteered to defend Moscow. ty for the event which was timed to be part of our annual Jarama com-ences and the humanities “to go into Doctor Peisakh Bernshtam, a memoration. Sponsored by the Citybusiness.” They want to get rich – Latvian Jew, served with our 15th Council, it was a civic occasion. Itsand quickly, too. Brigade at Fuentes de Ebro, Teruel, success guaranteed another lecture If the public image of the the Aragon and the Ebro operation. next year for which Tony Benn, MP,“Spanish” veterans in Russia has After Spain, the Letts were not is already booked as lecturer.been somewhat impaired, that of allowed to return home. They spent Recently, the Nottinghamshirethe few living veterans in the for- two years in concentration camps. County Council unveiled a strikingmer Soviet republics — Latvia, for When the Soviet government was memorial to its IBers (the 54th civicexample — is catastrophic. restored in Latvia in 1940, they memorial in Britain). Among those I have a recent letter from returned home. During the Great doing the honors was the SpanishYevgenia Schvarz, the daughter of Patriotic War all the “Spanish” Letts ambassador, who made a very good,Captain Egon Schmidt (Mikhail took up arms, serving as army offi- pro-IB speech. ✇Schvarz), commander of the “Zapa- cers. Twenty-four of them were killed. Salud, Dave Goodmandores” company of our 15th Brigade, During the Spanish war and thewho was killed in the Ebro offen- French concentration camp intern-sive. She was born in Latvia, is achemist, married to a doctor and ment time, the Lett volunteers were helped materially and morally by Bulgariamother of two children. Here iswhat she writes: “You write that your Interna- Lett progressives in the United States and by their newspaper, Stradnieku Cina. Now only a hand- M y wife and I just came back from Europe where we con- ducted interviews with Dr. Kanettitional Brigade work is slowing down ful are alive and they are in need of and Atanaska Radulova in Sofia andbecause of natural reasons, but with this support as never before. Dr. Becker in northern Germany. Inus, it is ceasing because of political Perhaps you could raise this prob- Berlin, we had a pleasant three-dayreasons. All father’s documents lem among your supporters. Here stay in Karl Kormes’ home.have been thrown out of the are two people who may be contact- Of the 20 doctors who went toMuseum of the Revolution … Now it ed in Latvia: China after serving in Spain, Drs.has become a military museum in Becker and Kanetti are the onlywhich hangs the portrait of the war Kazakuva Lija, ones alive. Thanks to an arrange-criminal Tzunurs who was notori- Avotuiela 9, dzi ment made by Mrs. Kanetti (Changous for the annihilation of the Jews Riga, LV-1011, Latvja Sun Fen), we met Ms. Radulova inin Latvia in 1941-1944. … The SS Sophia. She had been a nurse inlegionnaires are honored.” Janis Palkaniens Spain and has been very active in the Some one hundred Letts from Kr. Barone Iela 122, dz3 Bulgarian veterans’ organization.small Latvia, including eleven doc- Riga, LV-10, Latvja There are currently about twen-tors and nurses, fought in Spain. ty Spanish war veterans living inFourteen died at the front. Sixteen Kazakuva was an interpreter in Bulgaria. However, the antifascistLetts served in the Dimitrov Spain. ✇Battalion of the 15th Brigade. Salud, Percy Continued on page 2222 THE VOLUNTEER, FALL 1994

Czechoslovakia ty. When the fascists reoccupied

Teruel, I returned to the front, Germany rejoining the Czech volunteers in

Y ou can hardly imagine my joy

when I opened your mail withthe Spring V o l u n t e e r. As I read the Dimitrov Battalion. Interned in France when the war ended, we could not return to A letter from Karl Kormes in Berlin reports that the sepa- rate German IB organizations for-through it my thoughts went back Czechoslovakia because it was merly maintained in the Federalto when I was in the Abraham under German occupation. We were Republic and the GDR have beenLincoln Brigade. disarmed by the French police and amalgamated to correspond with My journey to Spain from the sent to concentration camps. the conditions resulting from theformer Czechoslovak Republic was Along with other antifascists, in reunification. The merged organiza-complicated. The “state” did not March 1941, I was deported to tion has taken the name Assoc-want to give me the appropriate Camp Djelfa in Algiers, I was kept iation of Former German Fighterstravel documents for Spain. I had to there until May 1943 when the for the Spanish Republic, and Theiruse the subterfuge of a visit to the camp was needed for Italian and Relatives and Friends (GVA).Paris World’s Fair of 1937. German prisoners of war. I man- There are 90 to 100 surviving I hid the Paris address of the aged to board a Dutch boat bound veterans in Germany – 66 in the for-recruiting center in my shoe and for England. There I joined a mer GDR and about 30 to 40 in thewas welcomed there by a young Czechoslovak brigade which suc- West. The agreement uniting themlady from Slovakia who was regis- cessfully fought the German army was signed by Karl Kormes for thetering the Czech volunteers. around Dunkirk. I returned to East and Ernst Buschmann for the I reached Albacete after the Czechoslovakia after the German West. In it the comrades pledge to“traditional” arduous Pyrenees capitulation on May 19, 1945. continue working for the ideals thatroute. As I had studied in the offi- Let me wish health and joy to brought them to Spain, for whichcers school in Czechoslovakia, I was my overseas friends and the veter- they participated in World War IIassigned to the headquarters of ans of the 15th Brigade — a big and for which they worked in bothGeneral Vladimir Copic. greeting, too, to my friend Sam German states for democracy, I was wounded at Belchite. At Walters. ✇ humanism and world peace.Benacasim, after my recovery, I Jiri Horskyserved as “leader” of cultural activi- (known in Spain as Jura) Following reunification — in reality the takeover of the GDR — the government moved to cancel theBulgaria “market economy.” Nevertheless, their spirits are still high. pensions that antifascist veterans inContinued from page 21 Since the veterans’ office in the GDR had been awarded. There Sofia is closed, future correspon- was resistance to this, led particu-fighters are not recognized by the dence should be sent to: Dr. larly by the Jewish community andpresent government in Bulgaria. As Constatin Mitcheff, 26 Shainova, supported from abroad. It was par-a result, the veterans’ office has been Sofia, Bulgaria; or Ms. Atanaska tially successful, winning retentionclosed and their pensions taken Penkova Radulova, Mladost-2, Bl. of the pensions, although reduced.away. This deprivation is compound- 227, en 4; Sofia 1799, Bulgaria. ✇ More seriously, criminal charges,ed by the high inflation rate due to Len Y. Tsou, New York reminiscent of the McCarthy period attacks on the VALB, are being The following appeared in the Ottawa Sun, Feb. 15, 1993. taken against those who held high government positions in the East. Particular targets are members of France honors SCW veterans the Political Bureau of the Socialist Unlike Canada, France is to officially recognize the French volunteers Unity Party, of the State Council who fought on the left-wing Republican side in the Spanish Civil War and government of the GDR, along more than fifty years ago. with high ranking officers of the In 1989, the Canadian government decided against granting veterans’ army, police and security service. benefits to the 100 or so remaining Canadian survivors of that war. But Under particular threat are IB in France, Veterans Affairs Minister Louis Mexandeau has promised to veterans Kurt Hager, Alfred Neu- grant official war veteran status to the 150 or so survivors from the 9,000 mann and Erich Mileke, who were Frenchmen who fought on the republican side. members of the Political Bureau of the “It’s a symbolic gesture to mark France’s gratitude to those who old Socialist Unity Party. With the before the Second World War recognized the danger threatening Europe exception of the Party of Democratic and offered their lives to fight against fascism,” said Socialist parliamen- Socialism (PDS), all other parties, tarian Jean Oriveux, who initiated the tribute. including the social democrats, sup- port the repressive measures. ✇ THE VOLUNTEER, FALL 1994 23

An appeal Yes! I believe that a contribution to the Veterans of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade has a unique quality. It brings The Volunteer to its readers, free of charge, helps meet the expens- es of the office where the persisting Veteran staff carries on; and assures VALB support for causes consistent with its 60-year tradition.

Here’s my contribution of $__________________________________

Name _____________________________________________________

Address ____________________________________________________

City ___________________________State ________Zip ____________

Mail to: Veterans of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade, 799 Broadway, Rm. 227, New York, NY 10003A drama inspired by the Irish Brigaders This article is abridged from the ernments, the Republican govern- “There is a harrowing storyDublin Irish Times, January 3, 1994. ment in Spain looked like a beacon. about one volunteer from Waterford The men who fought in the called Frank Edwards, who hasBy Francine Cunningham International Brigade had a clearly since died. Because of his involve- thought-out vision of the sort of ment with a group called the

W hen the playwright Jim Nolan

left his job as a linesman atTelecom Eireann 10 years ago to country Ireland might become, emerging from a nation which was narrow, very sectarian and divisive. Republican Congress, he was sacked from his position as a teacher at Mount Sion school in Waterford.establish the Red Kettle theatre “So when I looked at the social When he came back from thecompany in Waterford, he did not culture that prevails in this country, I Spanish Civil War he could not findexpect his former workplace to pro- wanted to make a connection between work, until he eventually got a job invide inspiration for one of his plays. their hopes for Spain and Ireland.” the Jewish school in Rathgar.Nolan had been fascinated by the Nolan’s resulting play, Guernica “What the volunteers struggledstory of the 105 Irishmen, 10 of Hotel, is set in a small, modern-day for is still worth struggling for. Iwhom were from Waterford, who Irish town where a veteran of the make the distinction here betweenvolunteered for the International Spanish Civil War, Francis Shan- the formal Communist Party poli-Brigade in the Spanish Civil War. non, runs a hotel. The local people tics and the principles or ideals at “I'm particularly interested in disparagingly refer to it as the the heart of the system. There is athe form of idealism which made “Guernica Hotel.” certain moral stature whichthese men go to Spain, although I While researching the subject of screamed for social justice, and itknow ‘idealism’ is a word that the his play, Nolan spoke to survivors doesn't go away when Eastsurvivors resist,” said Nolan, on a such as Peter O’Connor, Bob Doyle Germany collapses. There is a dan-visit to Dublin. “Then I began to and Michael O’Riordan of the Irish ger of throwing out the baby withlook at the business controversies at Communist Party. “What these men the bath water.”Telecom and at the morality which did was virtually written out of his- Given that Irish men also wentforms the basis of our political/eco- tory,” said Nolan. to fight alongside Franco on thenomic culture. I started to look at “There seems to me to have been nationalist side, it is notable thatthat culture through the eyes of a a gross and deliberate distortion of Guernica Hotel does not deal withsurvivor like Peter O’Connor from information sent back from Spain, their story. Why did Jim NolanWaterford, who went some 57 years with propaganda stories about the choose to exclude those who foughtago to fight in Spain. murder of priests and rape of nuns with Franco? “Part of the reason these men by the Communists, spearheaded by “The lives of the volunteers werewent to fight in the Spanish Civil War the Catholic Church and sections of imbued with what they believed. Itwas because the struggle for a partic- the Irish media. was not just a case of the rightular form of social justice in Spain “Nothing could be closer to their speech in the right place, it was notlinked into the type of politics they hearts than to see a socialist gov- designed for getting elected. T h ewere trying to create in this country. ernment defeated in a Catholic play is very much a personal story, “In Europe, at a time when country. So the men who fought about trying to bridge the public andmany countries did have fascist gov- were pilloried when they came back. private world of an individual.” ✇